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Steep infection curves, overburdened hospitals, rifts within the government and protests by the population: the bad news from the Czech Republic has not stopped for months.
With almost 10,000 new infections within a day, the country has a higher value than Germany, with a population of just 10.7 million people.
Almost 18,000 people have died from or with the virus since the pandemic began.
The rapidly increasing numbers are attributed to the British virus mutant.
In this tense situation, of all things, the emergency that has been in force since October could expire on Sunday - due to a political dispute.
Special powers of the government, which allow the imposition of important restrictions in the pandemic, also threaten to expire in the short term.
This is highly relevant for the infection process in Germany: Tens of thousands of commuters alone travel back and forth between the Czech Republic and the border regions of Saxony and Bavaria every day.
Bavaria's Prime Minister Markus Söder therefore spoke out in favor of closing the border and stationary controls.
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An entry stop is already being planned: "The Free State of Bavaria and the Free State of Saxony have asked the federal government today to classify Tyrol and areas of the Czech Republic near the border as virus mutation areas and to carry out stationary border controls," he told the "Süddeutsche Zeitung".
That was agreed with the Chancellor.
The CSU boss had already warned on Wednesday evening: "Should the Czech Republic not be able to extend its emergency measures, then it must be clear that the Czech Republic is an area of change and then the border closure must also be an issue."
Individual Bavarian districts have already issued stricter rules.
According to Söder, the British mutation has already gained the upper hand in some eastern Bavarian regions.
In the north-eastern Bavarian regions of Hof, Wunsiedel and Tirschenreuth on the border with the Czech Republic, the proportion of mutations in positive cases is 40 to 70 percent.
The state government of Saxony also announced far-reaching restrictions on commuting.
It reacts to extremely high infection values in the border area, which currently show an incidence value of over 1000.
How did it come to this - despite the lockdown that applies in the Czech Republic?
Source: WORLD infographic
In December, the peak of new infections appeared to be over after the Czech Republic was one of the countries hardest hit by the second wave in late summer.
The government quickly relaxed because the pressure from dissatisfied citizens was enormous.
Only two weeks later, on December 14th, the relief was gradually reversed due to increasing numbers.
A lockdown with closed shops and curfews went into effect.
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But the subsequent downward trend lasted only for a short time - the number of new infections has been rising rapidly for weeks.
Undertakers recently reported overloading, and even the emission limits for crematoria were lifted.
How long the government can withstand the pressure is uncertain in view of the chaos in parliament.
The minority government has still not found a secure majority for a further extension of the state of emergency.
Interior Minister Jan Hamacek said Wednesday that they wanted to negotiate with the opposition parties until the last moment.
It was "about human life," warned the 42-year-old.
But resistance within the population is extremely high.
Opinion polls show that young Czechs in particular are increasingly frustrated, not just from the pandemic itself, but from government measures, which many see as inconsistent.
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The dissatisfaction is evident in repeated protests, for example in mid-January when hundreds of people gathered for a rally on the Old Town Square in Prague.
The former Prime Minister of the Czech Republic, Václav Klaus, was also there.
"Enough," he said, government dictation must stop.
Several well-known innkeepers in the capital Prague last demonstratively opened their restaurants on a Saturday.
In addition, the existing rules are often circumvented, for example through ski trips that can be declared as business trips.
Citizens' trust in the government has suffered badly - and not just because of the lurching course.
A number of Czech officials were caught violating the conditions, for example at the birthday party of a regional politician with 50 guests in Teplice, at which even the regional police chief was a guest.
In order to prevent the British virus variant from being introduced into Germany, strict regulations have been in place for commuters for a few weeks.
In Bavaria, for example, they have to present a negative corona test result every 48 hours, and small border traffic for shopping has been stopped.
Saxony's Prime Minister Michael Kretschmer (CDU) also considers the sealing off of certain hotspots to be urgently necessary, as he said on Thursday, and wants to significantly restrict commuters.
A corona test station on the German-Czech border
Source: dpa
At the beginning of the week, "Focus Online" reported, referring to the national health authority SZU, that 45 to 60 percent of all sequenced corona samples in particularly affected Czech border areas tested positive for the highly contagious British variant.
The Czech government reacted by sealing off several border districts, as Health Minister Jan Blatny announced on Thursday.
Those who live there are no longer allowed to leave the respective district, he said.
How the Czech leadership wants to get the infection process under control - and whether they have the means to do so - will be decided in the coming days.
Fast vaccinations will not be able to turn things around: The vaccination rate in the country with 37.3 vaccinated people per 1000 inhabitants is still below the German value of 44.1 - where the vaccinations are also known to be slow.
"All three mutations are more aggressive"
"Everything has not yet been explored, but we would do well not to doubt the assumptions made by many experts when they tell us that all three mutations are much more aggressive, i.e. more contagious, and are more easily transmitted than the original virus," warned Merkel.
Source: WORLD